Giants-Redskins game review: Questioning the coaching in this one

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerGiants coach Tom Coughlin and his staff have done a decent job with a banged-up roster this year but Sunday's game against the Redskins wasn't their best of the season.

Y’all know me. Y’all know what I do for a livin’. I’ll catch this bird for ya…

Don’t ask me why I’m quoting Quint. There’s really no good reason except the first sentence I was going to write was, “You all know me.” Guess I’m just trying to cheer you up. Did it work?

Anyway, as I was saying, you all know me. You know how reluctant I am to say, “That was a poorly coached game.” Most of the time, I look to the execution (or lack thereof) as the reason things don’t work out on the field. It drives many of you nuts because you love to throw darts at the coaches but I see what I see and often defend the staff.

Not Sunday. Not at MetLife Stadium. Not for the home team.

That, in my estimation, was a poorly coached game.

This is not to exonerate the players at all. As you’ll see below, they’re culpable as well. But as you’ll also see below, there were a lot of decisions from the coaches with which I do not agree. And this isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking here; I scratched my head when I saw these things live.

Let’s get through this quickly, as I have a strong sense you’re not interested in dwelling on this one.

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GAME BALLS

Redskins LB London Fletcher. Love watching this guy play. For as long as he’s played and as consistent as he’s been, to be scrapping the way he does for a team that’s going nowhere this year is admirable.

Redskins CB DeAngelo Hall, S O.J. Atogwe and CB Josh Wilson. These guys didn’t just pick off passes. They made outstanding plays to do so.

Washington LBs Ryan Kerrigan and Brian Orakpo. This will be the extent of my game balls for the Redskins. I know you don’t care and nobody else really stood out too much.

S Kenny Phillips. Lost in all of the issues Sunday was the fact he made a heckuva read and play on the ball on his interception. So good I still gave him a game ball here despite a head-scratcher of a face-mask penalty to help kick start the Redskins’ first touchdown drive. I’m not sure why Phillips continued to grab and yank FB Darrel Young’s face mask. He should’ve realized what he was doing a lot sooner than he did.

DE Jason Pierre-Paul. On his sack, he got to Redskins QB Rex Grossman in 2.0 seconds. Grossman carried out the play-action fake and then turned to see Pierre-Paul already only 2 yards away from him. Why WR Niles Paul didn’t chip him at the line I have no idea. The Redskins paid attention to him for most of the day (which is why the Giants stood him up and looped him around to create a pressure later on) but let him come off the line clean there. Obviously, the two negatives on the day were his failure to recognize Young had the ball on his TD run and his roughing-the-passer penalty on the next drive for helmet-to-helmet contact. Otherwise, Pierre-Paul was excellent once again, including on another tipped field goal that still made it through.

Giants manager of special events Jeff Conroy. He did a nice job of making sure the New Providence High School marching band didn’t play at halftime while Devin Thomas was lying on the turf. They were ready to go. I’m sure Conroy feels badly the band didn’t get to play, but that was absolutely the proper call out of respect for Thomas. Good job by him and the Giants there.

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FREE-PASS PURGATORY

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerGiants defensive end Justin Tuck continues to be hampered by leg issues. Here he is stretching his groin early in Sunday's loss to the Redskins.

DE Justin Tuck. If you need proof he isn’t himself, watch the play on which Phillips was flagged. It was an end around to Paul, who plants his foot in the turf to juke Tuck, whose lower-leg issues are preventing him from making any change-of-direction moves. Watch how slowly his body reacts to what his mind wants him to do.

QB Eli Manning. He started 0-for-6. Brutal, right? Until you consider he basically threw two balls away because nobody was open and had the next two dropped. And frankly, I’m having trouble finding fault with him for much of Sunday’s game. The interception by Hall was a bad throw and decision. The one to RB D.J. Ware could’ve been thrown better but wasn’t fully his fault. (See below.) And the third one was a result of Mario Manningham’s stopping his route. So if you thought Manning reverted to bad form a bit Sunday, I’d suggest looking again.

S Antrel Rolle. I’m honestly not sure where to put him? Do I give him a gasser for missing a tackle on a third-and-16 in the first quarter and another one on Young’s TD run, plus the 20-yard pass he allowed to Moss on third-and-11? (He said on WFAN today there were “reasons” he didn’t make the tackle on Young, clearly once again suggesting he’s playing through injuries.) Do I give him a game ball for having the courage to say some things others might’ve kept inside? Or do I leave him here because it all balanced out? You tell me. This one’s for the people.

Coach Tom Coughlin. Among other things you’ll read below, his decision to challenge Atogwe’s pick was a terrible one. His previous six losses have been awfully close; this one wasn’t. Fox showed the perfect angle right away that made it clear the ball never hit the ground. That should’ve been enough for whomever lets Coughlin know whether to challenge. So I suppose the real gasser here is for the guys in the box. But the job of Coughlin and his staff Sunday was arguably the worst of the season.

Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. After the game, I was chatting with the honorable Vinny DiTrani, The Record’s NFL guru who is now in semi-retirement and only covers home games. We were talking about how much zone Fewell has played of late. My point was I had a feeling Fewell would shy away from man coverage after the debacle in New Orleans. I had recommended ahead of time playing a lot of man that night and that’s what Fewell did. The Saints won. It happens. But Fewell has gone back to a zone-heavy scheme with a bunch of guys better served to play man. You can see by the way they don’t react to receivers running through their zone it’s not the strength of their game. This team has to go down playing aggressive, tight man coverage.

Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride. This is the most reluctant of my coaching gassers because he schemed and called some plays to allow guys to run free in the secondary. Still, I didn’t like the way the Giants took shots deep down the field on third-and-manageable. The worst example of this was when they had third-and-6 from the Redskins’ 18 and ran three routes near the goal line. It was covered and took too long to develop, leading to a sack for a loss of 8 yards and, consequently, a missed 44-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes.

WR Hakeem Nicks. I don’t know that I’ve ever given him a gasser. He had a few drops. It happens. I would expect a big bounce-back performance this weekend.

CB Prince Amukamara. Look, we understand how difficult it’s been for rookies and free agents this season. The Giants’ coaches and players understand that, which is why they’re trying to be patient with Amukamara. But obviously, they believed he needed to be pulled from the game. Some of the mistakes he’s making are because of complex reads that are tough for rookies. (Which is why he got a pat on the helmet by CB Corey Webster after failing to get to WR Santana Moss on his TD.) There are others he should know not to make, such as the one on the 16-yard pass from Grossman to WR Jabar Gaffney. Amukamara was playing off coverage there because it was third-and-14. What he has to do is maintain outside leverage and not allow Gaffney to spin toward the sideline as he did to pick up an extra 8 yards and the first down.

Manningham. By now, he can’t be making critical mistakes such as the one he made on the interception in the end zone.

This is the first of my second guesses. And again, I wouldn’t lie to you, it was a first guess.

It was the first play after Redskins S Reed Doughty tackled Nicks for a pass-interference penalty that moved the ball to the 3-yard line. Allow me to repeat: the 3-yard line.

The reason for my reiteration is I wouldn’t be shocked if we learned the Giants thought the ball was going to be placed closer to the goal line, because they sent in their “jumbo” personnel. That means two backs and three tight ends. It’s what we usually see only when the ball is inside the 2. But once more, it was at the 3.

As soon as I saw the personnel in the huddle, I didn’t have high hopes for the play. And rightfully so, because a run by Brandon Jacobs to the right lost a yard. And it was a huge, huge yard because two plays later, Ware was ruled to not have control yet at the goal line after a replay review. The ball was moved back to the 2, which was a bad spot because he seemed to maintain control at the 1. That’s a long way of saying I believe the yard lost on first down would’ve made the Ware play a touchdown, not to mention the first-down play could’ve picked up yardage had they come out in a better personnel package. A touchdown during that sequence and it’s a 13-point game with 9 minutes to go. Still no guarantee the Giants come back, but they were moving the ball while playing solid defense. It was doable.

In short, I know a lot happens between plays, but the Giants have to get that personnel grouping correct right there. When you don’t, you saw what can happen.

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SECOND GUESSES

If you watched our postgame video, you heard me say this already: why didn’t the Giants put the sun to their receivers’ backs to start the game? They lost the toss, so the Redskins took the ball. After that, you do the next-best thing to give yourself an early advantage. That should be defending the goal onto which the sun is shining. It’s what we were always told when I played in high school – unless there was significant wind. Coughlin said he chose to defend the east end zone because of wind issues. But the wind was only 9 mph and didn’t seem to be blowing the flags on the goal post very much. The sun bothered Nicks and WR Victor Cruz on two plays that could’ve been long completions.

Speaking of the Cruz play, I thought that was an excellent non-call on DB Byron Westbrook. Much as the crowd, the Giants and Troy Aikman wanted a call, Westbrook barely touched Cruz. It wasn’t the greatest body control you’ll ever see from a defensive back, but that’s not the point. It’s just like when people are yelling for a face-guarding penalty (which doesn’t exist). Just because it looks bad doesn’t mean it’s a penalty.

Back to the coaching second guesses. Actually, this one was another first guess. I had a huge, huge problem with Coughlin’s lack of a timeout after TE Logan Paulsen’s 10-yard catch to make it fourth-and-1 at the Giants’ 31 with 1:49 left in the first half. Coughlin started to call timeout but then realized the Redskins were planning to go for it, so he stopped himself. The reason is he didn’t want to give them more time on their drive. Here’s my point, though: those 40 seconds the ‘Skins ran off the clock didn’t matter to them. By the time they ran the clock down, they had 31 yards to go for a touchdown in a little over a minute plus all three timeouts. Time wasn’t a factor; downs were. So if Coughlin calls a timeout and the Redskins convert on fourth-and-1, no big deal. It’s basically the same situation as not calling one. But when he didn’t call one and the Redskins milked the clock before throwing an incompletion on fourth down, the Giants got the ball back with exactly a minute left instead of 1:40. They kicked a field goal to make it 17-3 at halftime when, with more time on the clock, they could’ve scored a touchdown. You’re down 17-0. You have to do something to get your team going. Take a shot. And again, it wasn’t even a “shot,” so to speak. There was no downside to calling timeout. That’s terrible clock management right there.

Another decision I still don’t get is why the Giants didn’t dress DT Jimmy Kennedy. They knew Washington is a run-heavy team but dressed only three DTs. The extra spot went to rookie RB/KR Da’Rel Scott. He and WR/KR Jerrel Jernigan were active in the same game for the first time since Week 9. I can’t kill the Giants for this one because the run defense held the Redskins to 3.1 yards per carry. I just don’t know why Kennedy, who played well in his limited role early in the season, is having trouble getting a uniform these days.

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ODDS AND (TIGHT) ENDS

Why was Manning looking for Ware downfield on his first interception? And why was Ware in the slot and running that seam route? Because that’s the Giants’ “Detroit” package, which usually includes TE Travis Beckum as the slot receiver. Beckum was inactive and the Giants chose to have Ware replace him. Don’t blame Manning here; he made the correct read because the Redskins blitzed off that side and Atogwe overran Ware to cover Cruz. Ware’s inexperience in that position led to his not bending the route more toward the middle of the field. That’s why Manning gestured the way he did after the play and why Fox cameras showed him gesturing for Ware to convert his route more toward the post than up the seam.

Did you see what the Redskins did to convert a third-and-12 in the first quarter? Hint: it’s what teams have been doing to the Giants all year. They ran a crosser in front of LB Jacquian Williams and then ran an in cut behind him. The crosser was Moss and WR Donte’ Stallworth caught the ball behind Williams for 19 yards and a first down. Williams seemed discombobulated by Moss’ presence, even though he was only 4 yards off the ball. He didn’t get his feet under him and didn’t get deep enough to affect the throw to Moss. After the catch, Phillips and Rolle are staring at Williams. They didn’t chew him out but you could tell they’re frustrated by an issue that’s been bugging this defense all season.

I still have no idea what DT Chris Canty did to draw a personal-foul penalty on Webster’s interception to start the game. Sorry, wish I had more for you there. Fox never showed a replay and I didn’t make it to Canty’s locker postgame.

CB Aaron Ross wasn’t flagged for launching into Grossman on Grossman’s second interception. I guess that’s legal. Who knew? Referee Alberto Riveron was watching the hit closely, so it’s not like he missed it. I know you can’t launch into defenseless receivers, per a recent rule change, but quarterbacks apparently don’t fall into that same category. That being said, Ross has to be careful because leaping high into a quarterback will cause helmet-to-helmet contact more often than not.

I’m not the biggest Joe Buck fan, but the “All you analysts up here guessing coverage. How do you sleep at night?” line was absolute gold, Jerry. Gold

I’m convinced when Rolle rolled his eyes after saying they should’ve created more “opportunities” he was talking about the wasted interceptions in the first half. I’m sure he was also thinking about the two Giants drives that lasted all of two plays.

I wrote on Friday LB Mathias Kiwanuka would have to be a factor in keeping the run contained. He came too far upfield on one play but otherwise did a real nice job on the edge once again. And I’m not sure if when Coughlin talked about adjustments to the Redskins’ running game he meant that pitch play they designed to run up the middle but that’s a nice little wrinkle.

And finally, it wasn’t quite game-ball worthy because they were so limited but the offensive line, as well as Bradshaw and Jacobs, did a good job on the ground once again. They picked up 5.1 yards per carry and Bradshaw had the nifty catch he kicked to himself. Good stuff. They'll need more of it in the next two weeks.